Tag: words
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English Family and Place Names
The British like to shrink words and let the pronunciation drift around a bit. The metamorphoses are unpredictable: you just have to know. Can you say Abergavenny?
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Jargon Central
The (London) Times Literary Supplement likes to hold up gobbledygook for contempt. Here are some examples.
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She Fled Across The Fields
Some austere nuggets from Le Matin’s eminent faits divers editor Félix Fénéon, also a critic, publisher, art dealer, and an anarchist with a fondness for bombing.
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How to Name Your Baby
As most parents know instinctively, there is a curious magic in names. Call your little on Elmer, and he will be less likely to succeed than if you plunge in with Charlemagne or Napoleon…Excerpted from John Train’s Most Remarkable Names, 1985.